Bouldering

I've arrived safely and soundly in Boulder, Colorado, where I will attend an energy efficiency workshop from tomorrow until Friday. I'm staying at the International Hostel, which is a frat house turned Hostel. I've managed to piss off the front desk guy by being totally clueless about checking in procedures, and by somehow not knowing the code for getting in here after hours--either that, or else he's just not friendly and grouchy. But staying here is inexpensive, my room is clean enough, and the showers, which are basically metal boxes, are going to be a character-building and water conserving experience that will, I'm sure, make me happy to have packed my shower sandals with me on this trip.

I really really liked this town when I first stepped off the bus from Denver. It smells of pine trees. I walked the 0.8 miles to the hostel and was pleased to see people out and about; this seems like a real college town--maybe Berkeley is like this at night, but I don't live in Berkeley. But after I went through the checking in awkwardness here and went for a walk in search of food, I felt a little less in love with the town because I began to feel self-conscious. I wanted food, you see, real food, but most places that were open at this hour seemed to be intended to serve people alcohol. Which is good and fine, except that I don't have anyone to go drinking with right now. I ended up buying a middle eastern chicken wrap from a convenience store where I also bought dental floss and deodorant, and it tasted pretty okay, except that it had all the standard subway sandwich vegetables that add this uniform taste to everything, masking the potential distinctiveness of incredients like chicken and feta cheese. In any case, I got my food, and now I am fed with something more than chocolate-covered esperesso beans. And it is late, and I must go tend to my assigned reading if I am to get what I want out of this workshop.